环球自然日®-故事播讲（2022年度）英文素材-5.Everybody Loves Niu Xixi

The morning sun is the lover of the grassland. When the first ray of sunlight falls on the vast African continent, the grassland becomes lively.

The baboon sits on the tree and watches the wildebeests migrating enthusiastically; the giraffe is chewing the leaves leisurely; a rhino named Niu Xixi takes a deep breath of fresh air, use two small eyes watching everything around.

"Ew, Niu Xixi, when is you last time to take a bath?" The gray parrot on the tree covers its nose with its wings, "Look at your body, it’s covered with mud, what a mess!"

The gray parrot is quite small, however, his voice is loud. After his “broadcasting”, the animals nearby come to Niu Xixi, and sniff. Niu Xixi is so embarrassed that he wants to use the horn of his nose to dig a hole in.

 "Do you know why Niu Xixi is so stinky?" The gray parrot likes to be surrounded by others, so he begins to make up a story. "Because he stole the honey from the tree and got it on the body. He wanted to get rid of those honey by rolling on the ground, but covered with mud instead."

The others frowned, and Niu Xixi sadly says: "Nonsense, I didn't!" However, the others look at him, and shake their heads in disbelief. The gray parrot says: "Niu Xixi, dirty, dirty, dirty!"

Niu Xixi turns around and goes to the pond without a word, but instead of going directly into the water, he rolls in the mud beside the pond.

 "Look, am i right? Niu Xixi is really sloppy!" The gray parrot's voice draws the attention of the cheetah in the distance. This cheetah, who has been hungry for several days, is sneaking in the grass quietly, two green eyes fixed on a little zebra...

Niu Xixi is even more sad when he hears the gray parrot: "Mom taught me to take a bath like this. Why do they laugh at me?"

Suddenly, there is a riot among animals. The cheetah has launched a surprise attack. Luckily, the little zebra responds quickly. The cheetah has to hide in the grass again, waiting for a second attack.

Niu Xixi sees the animals fleeing in panic but not very clearly. He rushes to the shore, lowers his head and points his horn in the cheetah direction and dashes forward. The cheetah takes a look, damn, such a gigantic animal rushes at him with a pointed horn, he is so frightened that he runs away immediately. Soon he disappears.

After a while, the animals raise their heads one by one from the hiding place, and the gray parrot standing on the tree also lowers his wings. "You all misunderstood Niu Xixi! Although his skin is hard like armor, the gap between the armor is very soft. Covering with mud can prevent those area from being bitten by mosquitoes." The rescued little zebra says, "Thank you, Niu Xixi! Sorry i didn’t help you explain earlier."

"So it is!" The animals suddenly realize. Thinking of Niu Xixi’s performance just now, everyone looks at each other and become a little scared: Niu Xixi has such a big temper, will he forgive us?

Unexpectedly, Niu Xixi just says shyly: "It doesn't matter, the mud on my body is dirty indeed."

Seeing others are afraid of saying, Niu Xixi realizes that it is his appearance that scared everyone. He quickly says: "Don't be afraid, I'm not angry, I'm just a little shortsighted, so I didn't see clearly about what happened. I felt that everyone was in danger, so I buried my head and dashed forward. I wonder if I hurt any others?"

Everyone checks and thankfully, no one is injured. "Since everyone is okay, then I will leave." Niu Xixi turns to leave. The little zebra chases up, the rabbit chases up, the water antelope chases up, the giraffe chases up, and even the gray parrot chases up: "Niu Xixi, don’t go, you are not smelly at all, we all love you!"